Fuel feeding apparatus



April 9, 1935. H. M. CUNNINGHAM 1,997,377

FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS Filed March 19, 1931 INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 9, 1935 U I ED STA ES OFFICE 1 9 mm UELF E IN APPARA Q m Hal M.1Cunningheni,'l5elvidere, n1. I eliminat o Marsh 19, 1.931, Se ial No. 523,831] 4 Claims. ;(o1, r5s-3 .3

:isthe Lprovisionof an oil feeding system whichis 10 notsubject tocertain disadvantages and difficulties-ghereto-fore encountered; and 1 which attains ithemaximum degree of saietyewhile providing ,for dependable operation, especially where the i nitiontor burning is intermittent; vllj'he nature of the present invention will appear nlbrefclearly from a consideration ofthe followingdisoussionof various types ofiu'el feedin systems heretofore employed; i

;,. Ihe various typesofgravity and vacuum; feed arrangements heretofore used, itqis now well recognized, impose a considerable hazard to the premises inwhich theyare'installed. There are .1'H31'1Y11'53SDI1S1W1'1Y such dangers or hazards arise, among which might be mentioned the fact that gravity and vacuum systems necessitate the use of float controlled valves and the like whieh, in

, icase of inefficient operationor failure,are likely! to cause abnormally large feed ot oil to the burner tion in'association with a fuel feedin pump.

.j stillzmore specifically,- the present inventionw wmakesiuseo-f a closed vessel intorwhichtheoil or new of oilinto the, airsupplylpipes andthe x like andxeven flooding ofthe' apparatus itself'as l well as of the premises. With such gravity and Vacuum systemsifurthermore, leaks or breakage inthe delivery or supply. lines arealso likely to resultin flooding or abnormal now of. oil, espe cially {where the installationcis designed ,termittent ignition and Operation; There are other types of feeding systems employing pumps whichhave been'employedv heretofore'for the delivery of oil to thewburner but,

140 in their present forms, these are disadvantageous iorlfthe, reason that they either necessitate the,

of ioilsupply, airsupply andoil deliver ipes and thesource pfsupply (one. for, returnof ex-- i use of a plurality ofconnectionsbetween the pump cess) or they are subject to difficulties (often extinguishmentof the burner, flame) as a result ofthe presence of air slugs 0r pockets. In this connection, it should benoted that it is virtually impossible, as a practical matter, to completely. eliminate theperiodic discharge oiair slugs from an oil: pump, particularly Where the operation :of the pump is intermittent, as it must be in a domestic installation: Such air slugs or pockets are alsoqfreque'ntly found in the supply pipes as "the result of leaks or ineiieotive valve "operation.

' tion air-under pressure to the supply line 5;.

, Variousdevices or schemes providing for ventand the burner.

for in-" obtained will be apparent from a considerationof I the following description taken with the accomingtordischarge of air from fuel .feedlines have f been proposed for --use heretofore, but such cleviceszor schemesare undesirable forthereaso that they involve the use of still further part and the like which are subject to breaka e O ,5 inefiicient operation, l urthermore, even if the operation of such devices were reliable, theyare undesirable as they necessitate, the external dischargeof air andvapors frequently havin obnoxious or distasteful-odors. r In addition, insuch l0 systems as are adapted to the burning of relatively combustible or'even explosive hydrocarbons, the discharge or venting, of vapors and air produ anadditional fire hazard.

Thepresent invention is specifically ooncerned '15 with the provision of an oil feeding systemipreferably. employingaieed pump; in which various of the foregoing difficulties heretofore encountered are "completely eliminated, For example-it is ianrobject of the present invention to eliminat 220 air slugs from a pumhgravity or vaouum system by the useofan extremely simple arrangem n "oftdevicesand connections betweenthe oil supply It should be noted, however, that i while, variousfeaturesofJthe present invention may be employed in anyone of the threegeneral types of, feeding'systemsabove referred to, I prefertoemploy the apparatus of the present invensupply line dis harges and from which a pair of to the burner.- 1 r 'Howtheioregoing objects and advantages are panyingdrawinnin which Figure 1 is adiagrammatic view illustratingthe :parts and eonnections, of the present inventionin l theinrelat-ive and cooperative relation, portions being'inoluded; and i v :1 Figure. 2 is a view sim lar t Fi ure 1 bu llustrating a: different condition of operation as will appear more fully hereinafter. 1 i r m In both figures, the reference numeral; besienates an oil supplyline through which oil is do liverjed preferably by means of a pump v(not shown), into-a closedvessel 4,; The burner oil- 0 feedline is indicated'at 5 whilethe air: supply "line communicating therewith is shown at ,6. At i spectively. These valves may be of any suitable control in the operation of the burner. 10

character such as float or other automatically operated valves, or fixed-opening valves, but I prefer to employ a manually actuable valve in order to afiord the greatest possible degree of From inspection of the drawing it will be seen that the connections I and 8 unite, as indicated for example at H, and communicate with the oil-feed line through an additional valve I2. At this time, it is noted. that the disposition of a valve l2 at ciation with the other parts in order to bringj out the cooperative relation existing. This valve;

furthermore, is preferably of the relief type; thesame being arranged to open, during opera-1 tion of the oil feedingpump, at a predetermined closes and, of course, pr'events flow, by gravity, into the air supply line. Before considering the operation of the zip-'- pressure in the vessel 4 and connections 1 and 8. When the apparatus is not in operation, this valve paratus it should be observed that I prefer to adis indicated at A (above the point of communijust the valves 9 and It! in such manner as to provide for a flow of oil through the upper connection 1 equal to about one-quarter of the flow provided for by the adjustment of the lower valve i6; 7 n With such an adjustment of the valves '9 and i5, and with oil pumped through the connection;

'3, at, for example, ten pounds pressure, and with atomizing aindelivered through the connection 6 1 at about one and .one half pounds pressure, the operation of the system is as follows: 1

v Referring first to Figure 2, under the abov noted operating conditions, oil, the level of which cation' of the connection 1) will flow through both of the connections 1 and 8. The combined 'or aggregate flow through the valves 9 and I8 opens the valve l2 and passestherethrough into passes through the line and serves to atomize the oil at the nozzle, it being noted that the total'volume of air employed for atomizing the oil, in a typical installation, may equal only about one one-hundredth of the total air required for efficient-combustion, the remainder of such air being supplied secondarily at the burner.

Assuming now that a slug or pocket'of air is delivered from the feed pump through the con- 7 nection 3 and into the vessel 4 (an event which frequently, if not usually, occurs at thetime the pump is started), said slu'g or pocket results in a decrease or lowering of the oil level-in the vessel 4, as illustrated for example at Al in Figure 1.

' through the connection "I and combines with the 'atomizing air to be discharged with the oil fed through the connection 8 at the burner nozzle.

It should be noted that under ordinary circumstances, the amount of air which is eliminated through connection 1 is only a few cubic inches perhour, so thatjits effect is negligiblein the av- 'erage' installa'tion'which provides, "byway'of example, sixtycubic feet of .air deliveredthrough the connection 6. On the other hand, during the elimination of the air from the vessel 4 (with the valve adjustments above referred to) approxif burns the total oil delivered through both of the this particular point is not a part of the present invention .per se, but is described herein in asso-l eliminated a very serious diificulty which has been encountered heretofore, i. e., the extinguishment of the burner flame by virtue of the presence of air pockets or slugs in the oil-feed line by the use of a very simple, dependable and effectiveapparatus. The simplicity of the apparatus'of the present invention should be noted particularly, attention being called to the fact that many systems heretofore employed necessitated the use of one or more auxiliary lines extending from the feed pump to the oil supply tank or other source of supply. It is obvious, of course, that excess oil delivered from'a supply pump may be bypassed directly around the pump in a system in which the apparatus of the present invention is adopted as the return of air slugs to'the supply tank or some other point of venting is not nec- BS5313. a

In conclusion, it should be noted that many of the difficulties and dangers, for example, fire hazard due to flameextinguishment by air slugs,

are eliminated, the oil-feed line to the burner'nozzle. The air entering through connection 6, of course, also I claim:- 1. In a pressure oil burners; a device intermediate the fuel sup- .plyandthe burner operable to maintain a continuous fuel feed irrespective of the presence ofair slugs in the oil delivered thereto, said device including meansforming a substantially sealed chamber connected with the fuel supply, and

conduit means, having restrictive means therein,

continuously connecting the burner with the chamber at vertically spaced points; whereby, in the absence of'air slugs delivered to the chamber,

, fuel is fed therefrom intothe conduit means at said vertically spaced points and whereby, upon the admission cf air slugs into said chamber, the

fuel and air separate vertically and the air is delivered to the conduit means at an upper one of said points and oil continues to pass into the con-' duitmeans atalower one of said points. .2. In a pressure liquidfuel'feeding system for 'oil burners; a device intermediate'the fuel supply and the burner operable to maintain'a con: tinuous fuel-feed irrespective of the presence of air slugs in the oil delivered thereto, said device including meansforminga substantially sealed chamber connected with the fuel supply, and a pair of conduits, having restrictive means therein, continuously connecting the'burner with the chamber at vertically spacedpoints; whereby, in the absence of air slugs delivered to the chamber, fuel is fed liquid fuel feeding system for forks continuously connecting the burner with therefrom into both of said'conduits and whereby, upon the admission of air slugs into the said chamber, the fuel and air separate vertically and the air is delivered to theupper conduit and oil continues to pass into the lower conduit.

3. In a pressure liquid fuel feeding system for oil burners; a device intermediate the fuel supply and the burner operable to maintain a con tinuous fuel feed irrespective of the presence of air slugs in the oil delivered thereto, said device including means forming a substantially sealed chamber connected with the fuel supply, and a conduit connected with the burner at one end and forked at theother end, with restrictive means in the forks of said conduit, said conduit with its the chamber, with the forks communicating with the chamber at vertically spaced points; whereby,"

in the absence of air slugs delivered to the chamber, fuel is fed therefrom into both of said conduit forks and whereby, upon the admission of ,air slugs into said chamber, the fuel and air separate vertically and the air is delivered to the upper fork and oil continues to pass into the lower fork.

4. In a pressure liquid fuel feeding system for oil burners; a device intermediate the fuel supply andthe burner operable to maintain a continuous fuel feed irrespective of the presence of air slugs in the oil delivered thereto, said device including means forming a substantially sealed chamber ered to the chamber, fuel is fed therefrom into 7 both of said conduits and whereby, upon the admission of airslugs in the said chamber, the

fuel and air separate vertically and the air is 'delivered to the upp r conduit and oil continues to pass into the lowerconduit'.

" HAL M. CUNNINGHAM. 

